I have been looking forward to the movie Fortune Tellers ever since it was announced, and here’s a closer look at the premise and the characters — and it looks like a hoot. An eerie and spine-tingly hoot, perhaps, but still: just as hilarious as it is jump-inducing.

The setup is simple: One remote seaside village crawling with supernatural energy, meet a team of assorted mediums brought in to root out the spirits. They’re skilled and possess supernatural powers, right? (Well, kinda.) So this should be a piece of cake, right? And yet, things never go as simply as they should.

Essentially we’re doing Ghostbusters in the sticks, but with a heavier horror component (although it looks like the comedy’s pretty front and center as well). So, the trailer:

Things start out in standard horror-movie form, with an eerie ambiance and lots of creepy shots. A character is given instructions to a village waaaaay down the road, and told, “But… that village is a little strange.” Shivers. What is it about “strange village” that immediately brings the goosebumps? Arriving at the outskirts, one says, “I’ve never seen such frightening energy before.”

Then the fortune telling team finds the town crawling with all sorts of ghosts and ghouls, and sets out trying to exorcise them. Only… this isn’t exactly a crack team. Cracked, maybe. They’ve each got their own specialty, but it looks like the ghosts give them a run for their money. At one point, an exasperated villager cries, “This is the best our country’s fortune tellers can do?!”

Then the wacky, manic comedy vibe takes over, and we get what looks like a rollickin’ good time that’ll maybe scare your pants off just a little. In our final scene, the team initiates some sort of ritual that sends Kim Su-ro screaming and flopping in response… until Lee Je-hoon tells him, “I haven’t done anything yet.” And Kim Su-ro laughs sheepishly. Hehe.

Full of confidence, he’s also got a bit of a “prince complex” — he’s got the utmost faith in his analytical process and with his handsome face, he believes all women are in love with him. In short: He thinks he’s all that. He believes (and announces in the trailer) that he’s the only one who can solve this case… which makes him butt heads with Teacher Park, the other alpha dog in the mix. His poster bears the tagline: Someone who can solve this case? I’m the only one! —Scientific fortune teller.

Kang Ye-won plays special features reporter Chan-young, and in punishment for poking into a corruption case involving a powerful businessman, she gets reassigned to an out-of-the-way newspaper, covering the local news desk. She hears about the fortune tellers being assembled for the mass exorcism and heads over to the village to cover their progress. But the more she sticks around and works on her story, the more she discovers about her own past, and the secret contained there — it turns out it was no coincidence that sent her here… (Her poster reads: According to rumors, you’re no ordinary person. —Special features reporter.)

Kim Su-ro is Teacher Park, the country’s most famous “star fortune teller,” who’s so successful he even has assistant fortune tellers working for him. What, do you pawn off the small fortunes on them, or are they out getting your coffee and drycleaning? I can totally see him puffed up and full of demands already, which should make it all the funnier when the ghosts start giving him hell.

In any case, his prominent reputation means he takes up the role of leader. He’s the conventional medium who writes talismans in chicken blood and thus, unsurprisingly, is at complete odds with hi-tech ghostbuster Suk-hyun. His poster: Call all the experts in the country! —Ghost-chasing fortune teller.

Then there’s tarot card reader Seung-hee, played by Woori, who has recently switched from the stage name to her real one, Kim Yoon-hye. She’s famous for both her beauty and her tarot readings, plus she possesses psychometry skills, or the ability to touch an object and gain an insight into its past or connected events. Her tagline: The past you want to hide… my eyes see it all. —Past-reading fortune teller.

Kwak Do-won plays a ghost-seeing monk, which, ha. Right now he does some cheap reading in the park just to pass the time, but he’s actually quite gifted — and once studied alongside Teacher Park with the same master. In fact, he’s still harboring a bit of an inferiority complex, and it doesn’t help that their master played favorites, and only taught Teacher Park some of his best skills.

Underneath his eye patch, he’s got one glass eye… and that’s the eye that sees evil spirits. That means of all his teammates, he’s the first to sense the true nature of the village’s mysteries. Tagline: Only the ghosts know the clues to the case. —Ghost-seeing fortune teller.

Last but not least, we have “choding [grade schooler] fortune teller” Wol-kwang (Yang Kyung-mo), who’s already got enough powers to go up alongside the big famous adults. He has the power to see into the near future, which makes him the valuable alarm system warning his teammates when they’re about to encounter danger. “He sees the future… but he has no idea how to solve his math homework.” Aw. I can relate. His poster: The future that’s been decided… can it be changed? —Future-seeing fortune teller.

The movie sounds hilarious and looks like a fun thrill ride. Crossing my fingers for more goodness once it hits the big screen! Fortune Tellers opens on October 3.

Hmm.. random musing..Je-hoon’s tattoo on the left side of his neck.. is that actually his or his character.. (seen in the top right pic of the picture at the end of the post). Also, little boy smirk is so cute.

Is anyone else reminded of the anime/manga Ghost Hunt? Similar premise (one scientist, one seemingly normal part-timer, one shinto priestess, one monk, one catholic priest, and one tv persona fortune teller), with unintentional character conflict comedy. At any rate, I’m excited for this movie!

I’ll share my box of tissues with you. It’s just so sudden, I was just getting into his work and I even watched the entirety of Fashion King D': & now, he’s leaving for two years. I haven’t fel this bad since Kim Nam Gil left,lol.

Yeah, I kind of realized that I liked him after questioning myself on why I would insist on continuing with that disastrous show. I hesitated and hovered over the delete key to the 30GB plus FK folder and still felt the pangs of loss after I did it. He does intense and broody well but then again he was just so sweet in architecture too. Yeah, I really like him.

Right now, I am shaking my head at myself because I intend to re-DL ‘that show’ to get by whilst he is in the army…

Agreed! I totally had that second lead syndrome…well if you could find any predestination in that convoluted mess BUT even with all the flaws and pettiness, he added much depth to that character that made me return time and again. Without belittling his aesthetic charm, I know myself well enough to know it wasn’t just his looks that got me hooked, but I truly enjoyed the characterization. Reminded me of my high school crush, all moody, mysterious, as the quote goes, ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’

7.1.1.1.3 jomoSeptember 7th, 2012 at 5:52 PM

He really was beautiful in that show…*sigh*
The role was illogical but he sold it.

Just thinking about his near miss kiss scenes makes my heart speed up a little.

And it’s not even that Fashion King was bad, per say. The drama of the show was actually extremely interesting. It was just that characters just…did not make sense at all. Lee Je Hoon’s character in particular was hard to wrap my head around. Very hopelessly romantic, not cut out for business at all & proved it many times, flitted from one girl to the other, temper tantrums…he was pretty disgusting to me, but yes! Lee Je Hoon did an amazing job of playing one of the worst characters ever,lol–like Sabah, said, he added depth– to a character that didn’t have any. 0_0 (Yoo Ah In did too! If it was any other 2 actors, that show would have got dropped so hard.)

My opinion only, but I always felt as though they were trying for that moody angst of Que sera sera but the problem was Lee Je Hoon threw the balance off. Everything just gravitated towards him so that the other characterizations paled/disappeared in front of him. No offence to the other actors, because for me the failing was all in the writing BUT Lee Je Hoon did do something tremendous with that character.

7.1.1.1.6 momogiSeptember 9th, 2012 at 10:49 PM

duh, I totally watch FK just for him and fast forward the other scenes. Don’t know and don’t wanna know abt the plot.
he’s lovely and adorable in Architecture but he can be aloof and dark in the Front Line. Next in line I’ll watch Just Friends & Bleak Night.
He stole my heart everytime I see him onscreen, he’s MY actor crush! <3 <3

I'll wait patiently for fortunetellers to come. And cherish every last moment he's on tv and news before he's going to army.. hiks

7.1.2 jomoSeptember 7th, 2012 at 3:47 PM

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffking army.
Why can’t we just send the bad actors?

Kim Suro! I love the guy; he’s awesome. The movie seems like a real crackup, despite my low tolerance for horror I’ll probably be checking this one out since it appears to be hilarious, and I need a lot of that after gaksital’s end.
On a sidenote, is Lee Je Hoon really that good? People say he’s awesome; I’ve only checked out one of his shows, Fashion King, and I didn’t get past the first twenty minutes, although I did check out random scenes with him. After that, I don’t even know whether he can act at all, let alone act well.

Ah, looks like spine-tingling fun!
I love Kim Su-ro, and Lee Je-hoon is quite the charmer.
I’m assuming it’ll be sort of like the director’s other works. Sisily 2km was a little scary but funny most of the time. I heard Chaw was pretty funny, too, despite the trailer fooling me into believing it’d be a straight-up suspenseful thriller. I can’t wait! I’m such a baby so this is the only way I even get close to scary movies.

Hi guys I’m new to korean dramas but I just love love them :D. Now since I’m from Greece it is a bit difficult to find them and watch online. Could you help me out with some sites that have them online, especially movies ( I’ve never seen a korean movie before) since you write such interesting posts about them thanks